QUESTIONS PLEASE HELP

tanya01

I was diagnosed on April 4.  At the young age of 29.  I am almost done with chemo. I have 4 AC treatments and 6 out of 12 taxol treatments

I have some questions, but at the same time I don't know how to ask them, I am hoping someone will understand what I am trying to say.

I am basically triple neg. IDC sage lla grade 3.  I had no nodes involved and clean margins when I had my double mastectomy.  Does having no nodes involved and having clean margins a better chance or survival? I also carry the BRCA1 gene.. Does having this gene reduced my survival rate or higher my chances of a recurrence.  I cant really find much info on recurrence online for the type of cancer I have

Racy

tanya01, I just posted the following on another thread.  It may also help answer part of your questions here:

When I was diagnosed, I was given a handbook produced by the (Australian) National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre which listed 6 risk factors that make the cancer more likely to return:

• tumour is larger than 2 cm;
• cancer cells found in lymph nodes
• cancer clells do not have hormone receptors
• HER2+
• Grade 3/high grade
• unclear surgical margin.

Annicemd

Tanya,

BRACA gene means you have a very high risk of developing breast cancer. You have had double mastectomy to prevent this happening again which was the right choice. You are triple neg which means if you get a recurrence it will almost certainly be in the first 5 years after diagnosis and if you don't get a recurrence in that time you are likely to be cured, -unlike the situation for us with lazy tumours in whom recurrence can occur even 20 years later! You were node negative which is a v good result so with the chemo that will reduce your chance of recurrence. Triple neg is always perceived as bad but I have a friend with that who was grade 3 stage 3 and she said when the onc gave her her stats it was like being "shot at dawn". She is now over 3 years out and heading for "cure". Cure rates for BC are better now than ever before so be optimistic even if the stats sound bad. BC is a crap shoot basically!

Good luck

tanya01

Thanks everyone for the kind words and sharing your story. I had chemo today and had a long talk with my Doc. He told me today that my cancer has an 81% chance of NOT coming back. I was relieved to hear this news. I go next week to see the gene counselor. I am a little worried as to what they are going to tell me. But baby steps are good.  I am working on my low fat diet.. But it's a little hard. I love food, but if it betters my chances for survival I am going to do whatever it takes to make it. Wishing you all the best and thank you sooooo much for reaching out to me.

dsengplute

Hi Tonya:

Just a quick note to wish you well.  I was diagnosed on February 1st this year and am through all treatments, taking femora.  I am about to start a class at my local onc's office, "the 7 levels of healing".  It is based on a book called The Journey Through Cancer by Dr. Geffers.  I highly recommend it, I couldn't put it down and it has given me tools to help with my anxiety - journaling for example.  

In Healing LIght, 

Donna